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Should the Public Schools 


- 


Furnish Text-Books 




Free to All 


\ 


Pupils? 




BY 




PRINCIPAL WILLIAM 1. MARSHALL 




OF CHICAGO. 




Published by the Free Text-Book Committee of 




the Illinois State Teachers' Association. 




1898. 



St COPY, 
18S8. 




J^?H-1899 






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SHOULD THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FURNISH 
TEXT=BOOKS FREE TO ALL PUPILS? 



By Principal WILLIAM I. MARSHALL. 



Copyright, 1 895, by Wiillam I. Marshall. 
All rights reserved.* 



In June, 1894, a member of the Chicago Board of Education sent a 
letter to the principals of the city schools, asking if in their opinion free 
text-books would increase the attendance in the schools. 

The author answered that, notwithstanding he had lived twelve years 
in Massachusetts rmder free books, he had been so much opposed to 
them (though without taking any pains to investigate the subject), that 
he had always bought all the books his daughter had used in both the 
elementary and the high school, and that, not wishing to express an 
opinion based on prejudice, he would thoroughly investigate the workings 
of free text-books throughout the country and report what results had 
followed the adoption of free text-books, and how leading educators who 
had had much experience with the system felt about its practical workings. 

DESIRED EVIDENCE NOT IN PRINT. 

Supposing that he would readily find the desired evidence in print, he 
wrote to his old friends, Hon. J. W. Dickinson, formerly State Superin- 
tendent of Instruction of Massachusetts, whose term, from 1876 to 1893. 
covered eight years of permissive free text-books, and nine years of 
compulsory free text-books, and Hon. F. A. Hill, the present incumbent 
of the same office, in which he succeeded Secretary Dickinson in 1893, and 
to Hon. W. T. Harris, National Commissioner of Education, but found 
that no such compilation as he expected to find was in existence, the near- 
est approach to it being an address before the American Institute of In- 
struction, in 1887, by Thomas Emerson. Superintendent of Schools of 
Newton, Mass., which is very valuable, but having been prepared only three 
years after the adoption of compulsory free text-books by Massachusetts, 
of course, gives no such results of that great experiment as are now 
obtainable, and a brief discussion of the subject (with tabular statement of 

* Anj' paper or nia^azine may copy any part or all of this pamphlet, if due credit is given the 
author, and two copies of the number of numhevii using such matter are mailed to Principal Wijliam 
I. Marshall, Lawndale School, Chicago, 



2 

the then existing condition of the laws in the several states), in the report 
of Commissioner Harris, for 1888-89, pp. 532-578. 

Feeling bound by the promise to investigate, a correspondence was 
begun which it was supposed w^ould not be very extensive and would be 
concluded in a few weeks, but finding that free text-books had been very 
much more widely adopted than he had previously supposed, or than 
appeared from Emerson's address and Commissioner Harris' report, he 
continued it till it embraced every state and territory (except Alaska) and 
all the large cities and many of the smaller cities and towns using free 
books. 

The result is this monograph, containing more information than is 
elsewhere to be had on the free text-book question, and which he hopes 
may contribute toward the advancement of one of the most important 
educational movements of this generation, and one which, with no great 
organizations pushing it, and all the great school book publishers covertly 
opposing it, has made more rapid progress than any other movement in 
the history of public school education. 

LIMITATIONS OF STATISTICS. 

Necessarily in inquiries relating to educational systems, where much 
must ever be a matter of opinion, no such numerical precision of statistics 
is possible, as is obtainable in reports of agricultural, mineral or manu- 
facturing productions, or the operations of transportation companies. 

METHOD EMPLOYED IN THE INVESTIGATION. 

The following circular letter was prepared: 

Chicago, September i8th, 1894. 

Dear Sir: Will 3^ou please inform me how the system of free text-books, which 
has now, I believe, been in use in the Old Bay State for about ten years, is working? 

Has it. hi your judgment, absolutely increased the attendance of children at school, 
or has it merely resulted in increasing the attendance at the public schools, by 
withdrawing children from parochial and other private schools, where free text-books 
are not provided: 

Is there any considerable opposition to the law at present, or any probability 
that it will be repealed? 

If, in your judgment, it has resulted in an absolute increase of attendance, has 
that increase been distributed pretty uniformly through the various grades, or has> 
it been very considerably greater in some grades than in others, and if so, in what 
grades? 

Yours truly, 

WILLIAM I. MARSHALL. 

and a copy of it sent to State Superintendent Flill and ex-State Superin- 
tendent Dickinson of Massachusetts, and to the city superintendents of the 
twenty-one largest cities of that state, containing more than one-half of the 
])opulation of the state, and embracing the utmost possible diversity of 
population — purely manufacturing places in special lines, like Lowell, 
Lawrence and Fall River in textiles, Lynn and Brockton in shoes; sea- 
board cities largely devoted to maritime pursuits, like Gloucester and New 
Bedford and Salem; places largely residence and noted as educational 
centers, like Cambridge, Quincy and Northampton, and places noted for 
the great variety of their manufactures, like Springfield, Holyoke, Fitch- 
burg and Worcester. 

Similar letters were sent to the superintendents of New York City, 
Philadelphia and all other large cities using free text-books, md to many 



smaller cities and towns, and to the state superintendents of all states 
which have adopted free text-books, and upon the question of danger of 
spreading contagious diseases through use of free text-books to the State 
Board of Health of Massachusetts and the city boards of health of New 
York and Philadelphia. 

Mr. Emerson's address and the report of Commissioner Harris, here- 
inbefore referred to, were carefully studied, and the author gratefully 
acknowledges bis obligations to them for many items of much value. 

HOW BEST TO CONSIDER THE SUBJECT. 

The subject seems to best present itself for consideration under the 
following heads: 

(a) The arguments for, and objections against, free text-books. 

(b) The cost per pupil per annum, both absolute and relative, to the 
cost of individual ownership. 

(c) The history and present status of free text-books. 

(a) THE ARGUMENTS FOR A EREE TEXT-BOOK LAW 

are : 

I. It makes the schools strictly free, removing the only barrier that 
often sufifices to keep the children of very poor parents out of school, and 
so increases the attendance, especially in the higher grades, where it is 
particularly desirable that it should be increased. 

PROE. EI. B. SPRAGUE'S ARGUMENT EROM ABOLITION OE 

RATE BILLS. 

Prof. Homer B. Sprague (for some years Principal of the Girls' High 
School in Boston), in discussing the subject in 1878, when no state had 
passed a compulsory free text-boox law, and but few cities and towns in 
Massachusetts had adopted free text-books, under the permissive laws of 
1873, said: ^ 

'Tt may seem strange that so slight an expense, say from two to six 
dollars a year, should keep any out of the public schools, but those wlio 
are in the habit of visiting the wretched abodes of the poor and see how 
hard it is for many of them to get employment or earn money enough for 
the bare necessaries of life know very well that multitudes of. parents can- 
not pay for their children's books. 

"Of course, it is impossible to ascertain exactly how many are thus 
kept out of school, but we may gain some light on this point from the 
history of the abolition of rate bills. Rate bills were a money tax paid 
for tuition in the public schools. Every child, except those excused for 
extreme poverty, paid for tuition a sum proportioned to the number of 
days he attended. This rate bill existed in about halfiihe towns of Connecti- 
cut in the year 1867; its amount was limited by law, in grades below the 
high school, to six dollars a year. The usual amount of the rate bill, or 
tuition tax, paid by each child in those schools, was from two to three 
dollars. In the year 1868, it was the good fortune of the writer of this 
essay to aid in the complete abolition of that tax, so removing that 
apparently slight barrier to school instruction. 



"What was the result? The official report of the secretary, Dr. 
Northrop, for the year 1869, shows that the actual increase in school 
attendance during that year was about six thousand pupils, though there 
was no perceptible increase in the total population of the state. The next 
year there was another increase of about five thousand. Secretary 
Northrop, in express terms, attributes this increase to the removal of the 
rate bill. About eleven thousand pupils, then in Connecticut, prior to 1869, 
had been kept out of school by the rate bill, although its average amount 
did not exceed three dollars a year. 

*Ts it objected that the experience of Connecticut is peculiar? Take 
a very different community — California. In 1866 a rate bill existed in 
many towns in that state. The amount paid by each child for attendance 
was, on an average, about twenty-five cents a month, or two dollars and a 
half during the school year of ten months. In 1866 the rate bill was 
abolished by law in California. The consequent increase in attendance was 
six and one-half per cent. In other words, a number equal to one-sixteenth 
of the entire school attendance had been debarred from instruction by 
the slight tax of twenty-five cents a month. 

"Is further evidence needed to show that many children are kept away.. 
from school by the requirement to pay two or three dollars a year? Take 
the state of New York. Five days ago, wishing to ascertain the facts 
with precision, the waiter consulted the highest authority in that state, 
Hon. S. B. Woolworth, now and for many years past the Secretary of the 
Regents of the University of the State of New York. He repHed, under 
date of Albany, N. Y., Dec. 24, 1878, as follows: 

" 'The rate bill was abolished by law in New York in the year 1867. 
The increase in attendance in the public schools, consequent upon this 
abolition of rate bills, is estimated at 22,000 the first year, 50,000 the second 
year and 78,000 the third year. The average amount of tuition, i. e., the 
average amount of the rate bill, was perhaps $2.75.' 

"There is no resisting the conclusion from such facts as these. If in 
California a number equal to one-sixteenth of the whole attendance, if in 
Connecticut 1 1,000 children, if in New York 78,000 children, all of 
whom had been growing up in ignorance, were drawn into public 
schools by exempting them from the payment of twenty-five cents 
or thirty cents a month for tuition, then it is safe to conclude that 
there are multitudes who would be likely to be drawn into the public 
schools by exempting them from the payment of an equal sum for books 
and stationery. 

"Here we may be allowed to speak a brief word for those who are 
too humble or too feeble to speak for themselves. Indeed, they cannot 
speak without bringing upon themselves new shame. 

"Their tender love for their children, their ardent desire to secure for 
them a better lot than that of their parents, prompts the sending of them 
to the public school. But they have not even money enough for bread 
and decent clothing and they cannot buy books. Private charity 
does not supply them and is totally inadequate to supply them. For 
such the public schools are not free; they must make the humiliating 
confession of utter poverty before they can receive the boon of instruction. 
This undeserved shame is the price they and their children must pay for 
education. 

"They recoil from the idea of 'coming upon the parish.' No lacera- 
tion more cruel of the feelings of a sensitive parent or child can be found. 



m^BSge^ 



More than once during the past four months I have been made the unwill- 
ing witness of the distress of parents who had seen better days, but who 
now begged me, with tears, to supply their children with public books 
and to keep concealed the fact of this mortifying dependence upon public 
charity. Is it supposed that they do not feel it, because they say nothing 
about it? Because they do not tell the world of their shame and wretched- 
ness? 

"They do feel it keenly. Let the supply be free to all and you visibly 
lift thousands of heads now bowed with this unmerited disgrace; you 
visibly lift many thousands of children above the degredation of con- 
fessed pauperism. Put them on a level with their more favored com- 
panions, they at once become less servile, less abject, more hopeful; they 
will grow to be manlier men and womanlier v/omen; in time of public 
danger they will uphold with a stronger arm and a more loving patriotism 
the hand of the commonwealth that has so gently and generously led and 
hfted them in their hour of weakness." 

2. It secures absolute uniformity of text-books in every city, town, 
village or rural district which adopts it. 

3. It is cheaper for the community than the individual purchase of 
books, as all are bought at lowest wholesale prices by the school authori- 
ties of each city, town or other community. 

4. It furnishes the schools a large variety of books, thus giving a 
much wider range to the ''individuality" of the teachers (which is, after all, 
in the ultimate analysis, that upon which the highest success of any school 
finally rests), and adding to the variety and extent of the sources of 
knowledge offered to the pupils, very many of whom have little or no 
chance to become acquainted with the best thoughts of the world's great 
poets, historians and other thinkers, except what glimpses they get of them 
in their all too brief stay in the public school. 

Thus pupils, instead of having their reading confined to one text- 
book (as is the case where pupils own their own books), will have an oppor- 
tunity, by exchanging the books of different rooms in the same school, or 
different schools in a city, to read in ten or a dozen books. 

PURCHASE OF SUPPLEMENTARY READING CONCEDES THE 
PRINCIPLE INVOLVED IN FREE TEXT-BOOKS. 

This is novv^ deemed of so much consequence that in most large cities 
which are at all progressive in their school affairs — as for some years past 
in Chicago — an effort has been made to secure this result by a very liberal 
purchase of what is known as supplementan' reading matter by the Board 
of Education, which purchase is a tacit concession of the whole principle 
on which free text-books rest, to wit, that whatever expenditure the Board 
deems best adapted to promoting the highest efficiency of the schools they 
may properly make. 

5. The system of free text-books effects a great saving of time at 
the beginning of each term of school, for, whereas, under the system of 
individual ownership, it is well known that in all schools it is some days, and 
sometimes weeks, before all the pupils are supplied with the necessary 
books, so that the regular work of the classes can go on satisfactorily, 
under the system of free text-books every pupil is supplied the first day 
of school. 

6. It secures better classification, especially in country schools, where. 



with a less rigid discipline than city boards of education are able to main- 
tain, and with many families only visiting the towns at long intervals, many 
pupils have been compelled, under the system of individual ownership, to 
remain in classes that they had mentally outgrown, because their parents 
would not provide the books requisite for their advancement, or would so 
long delay the purchase of them that their children only entered the higher 
class when their more fortunate schoolmates had already made some weeks' 
progress in it. 

7. Free text-books cultivate in pupils that respect for, and careful 
use of, public property which all citizens ought to show, but which is too 
often utterly wanting in the character alike of young and old. 

All pupils, being required to use books with care and return them 
without any injury other than natural and proper wear, form habits, at 
school, under the direction and advice of their teachers, which are Of a 
most beneficial influence on their characters, and whose moral advantages 
it would be impossible to measure by dollars and cents. 

THE OBJECTIONS TO FREE TEXT-BOOKS 

were well discussed by State Superintendent Dickinson of Massachusetts, 
in his report for 1885, as follows: 

''Before the act of 1884 was passed sixteen towns in the common- 
wealth had voluntarily adopted the free text-book system. In all cases of 
fair trial the most satisfactory results have been produced. 

"The few objections that have been made to the free system are: . 

"i. It prevents the children from owning the books they use, and 
from preserving them for the future. 

"2. It cultivates a spirit of dependence. 

''3. Contagious diseases may be communicated by second-hand books. 

"4. Why not furnish board and clothes as well as books? 

"5. It requires the expenditure of a large amount of time in purchas- 
ing and distributing the books and supplies among the, schools. 

''These are the objections usually made. 

"The use of the free text-book system does not prevent a pupil from 
becoming the owner of the books he studies, nor, if that were possible, of 
preserving them. This may be done even at less expense than under the 
old system. 

"Experience, however, has proved that school books are generally 
worn out by the use to which they are subjected in the school-room and 
that future reference is more profitably made to new books, representing 
the latest phase of human thought on the subjects of which they treat. 
Old school books are interesting relics. They are even useful as occasions 
for reviving old associations, but they are not always safe guides in the 
acquisition of new knowledge. School books should be bought for present 
use, as they will be quite surely out of date when the future arrives. 

"If the statement that the free text-book system takes away the manly 
feeling of .independence, which should be strong in every mind, has any 
force, it presents an argument against the whole system of free schools. 
Why is not the manly spirit corrupted by furnishing free teachers and free 
school houses and free apparatus to be used as the means of teaching? On 
what principle may we furnish everything else free with good results, but 
cannot furnish free books without harm? As a fact, neither are the schools 
nor the means of study free to the people in any absolute sense. 



"The^^exp^nSe of supporting them is borne by those for whose benefit 
they were established. This is done by a general tax, levied in such a 
manner that the burden of siipport is made to rest equally on all. With this 
understanding the people accept their free school privileges, not as a charity, 
but as a gift presented by themselves. 

''Free text-books have been used for many years in some of the towns 
in our own state, and in some of the cities and towns of almost every other 
state in the Union. No complaint has hitherto been made that these books 
are the media through which disease is actually communicated. 

"The sanitary objections to the use of second-hand school books may 
be more reasonably urged against the use of books drawn from our cir- 
culating libraries, and handled by persons exposed to all the conditions of 
social life, or against paper money, that by its associations may become 
the media of many kinds of exchange. 

"It should not be forgotten that the legislature has passed stringent 
laws regulating the attendance of children who are suffering with con- 
tagious diseases, or who have been exposed to them, and that the free text- 
books are all committed to the care of the teachers of the schools. 

"The Iowa State Board of Health sent out a circular letter 
to about four hundred physicians residing in Iowa and other states : 

"In response about two hundred and fifty opinions were received from 
physicians in different parts of the United States, who, however much 
they may disagree upon other subjects, were unanimious in this, that there 
is no doubt that diseases may be communicated by this means, but they 
Knew of none, nor have they heard of one. 

/ " 'The only approach to anything of value comes from a physician in 
'Michigan, who relates a case of scarlet fever communicated by means of a 
novel, which was read by a young lady convalescent from scarlatina, and 
which was afterward loaned to another. From the best information I can 
obtain, I am strongly inclined to the opinion that of all methods by which 
disease is communicated, that by second-hand school books is the least 
to be expected". Upon the approach of physical disorder the books of 
study, which are usually tasks, and at best require considerable mental 
effort, are the first to be thrown aside and the last to be resumed in 
convalescence. 

" 'If any reading at all is to be resorted to, it is generally such as will 
amuse — light literature, everywhere to be found — and not books the use 
of which means labor.' — (H. H. Clark, member of Iowa State Board of 
Health.) 

"The objection suggested in the question, 'Why not furnish clothes as 
well as books?' has little significance when we consider that the state, by 
its compulsory laws, creates the legal necessity of purchasing books, while 
the necessity for clothes would exist if there were no schools to attend. 
Clothes should be furnished at public expense whenever this is necessar\ 
to attendance. 

"The advantages of the free text-book system are so many and so 
important that a considerable expenditure of time and labor may well be 
made. Experience and a proper division of labor will lessen both, until 
a thorough application of the system will not be considered a burden." 

COST OF FREE TEXT-BOOKS PER PUPIL PER ANNUM. 

(b) The cost per pupil, per annum, for text-books and all supplies, is 
given as So. 882 by Superintendent Stone of Springfield, Mass., in his 



report for 1886; as $0.99 per pupil by Superintendent Henry S. Maxson of 
Attleboro, Mass., in his report for 1886; as $0.66 per pupil, as the 
average of four years, by Superintendent E. E. Thomas of Woonsocket, 
R. L; as "an average of about $0.45 per pupil" by Superintendent Wm. N. 
Barrenger of Newark, N. J., where free text-books have been furnished for 
more than thirty years. 

Superintendent Geo. H. Barton of Jersey City writes: "For many 
years free text-books have been furnished to the. pupils of the public 
schools in this city. This plan has proven very satisfactory. 

"The cost per pupil has varied from $0.50 to $1.25 per year for books 
and stationery." 

The controllers of the public schools of the city and county of Phila- 
delphia say, in a report on this subject: "The expense of suppHes to each 
pupil is, however, far less than is generally supposed. The annual expense 
of supplying books and stationery is about $0.70 to each pupil," and under 
date of May 24, 1887, Mr. H. W. Halliwell, Secretary of the Philadelphia 
Board, v/rites: "The cost of books and other supplies for many years has 
ranged from $0.80 to $1.00 per pupil." 

State Superintendent Luce of Maine, in his report for 1893-94, p. 13, 
gives the cost of free books for the whole state, per pupil attending, as fol- 
lows: 1890-91, $1.16; 1891-92, $0.54; 1892-93, $0.34; 1893-94, $0.40. 

BOSTON SCHOOL BOARD MUCH OPPOSED TO FREE TEXT- 
BOOKS, BUT, WITH ONLY THREE YEARS' EX- 
PERIENCE, CONVERTED TO FRIENDS 
OF THE SYSTEM. 

The Boston School Board was active and pronounced in its opposition 
to the compulsory free text-book law, when it was under consideration in 
the Legislature in 1884, and even after its enactment was quite reluctant to 
carry it into operation, and as this opposition was not that of ignorant 
men, guided by caprice and prejudice, but an opposition based on the 
strong (though, as events have proved, mistaken) convictions of a body of 
able, honest and uncommonly intelligent men, whose great experience in 
school affairs and devotion to the best welfare Ojf the schools entitled their 
judgment to much more than ordinary weight, the opinion of the Board as 
to its practical working was looked for with great interest. 

The Committee on Supplies reported as follows, for the year 1886-87: 

"The practical working of the new law is progressing very favorably 
and many principals report that the books are better cared for than if the 
pupils owned them. 

"This is owing, in a great measure, tO' the oversight of the instructors, 
who are required to examine the books each month. The number of books 
lost is surprisingly small, and in many cases they are replaced by the pupils 
who lost them. 

"The carrying out of the free text-book law during the past year was 
accomplished with very little friction. 

"The instructors have familiarized themselves^ with the details of the 
work, and the necessary accounts have been more accurately kept than in 
previous years. 



9 

FEW PARENTS CHOOSE TO BUY BOOKS. 

'Tt was thought that under the free text-book system many parents 
would object to allowing their children to accept the"^ loan of text-books, 
but experience has shown that parents, with very few exceptions, approve 
the use of city property by their children. 

''While it is true that many pupils, having the required text-books 
at home, bring them for use in school, it is equally true that very few 
pupils, probably less than one per cent., purchase books in preference to 
being supplied by the city. 

'Tf the experience of the past two years is a fair criterion of the future, 
regarding the care taken of the text-books, the cost for supplying pupils 
under the present plan will be less than was anticipated, or could have been 
expected from the results obtained years ago by the city in loaning books 
:to a portion of the pupils." (This paragraph probably relates to supplying 
indigent pupils with books, which was required of all towns in Massachu- 
setts, by law passed in 1826. — ^W. L M.) 

"The cost per scholar (for books and supplies), each year, since the 
free text-book act went into operation, was as follows: 

"1884-85, $73,682.46; average cost, $1.23. 

"1885-86, $59,867.12; average cost, 98 cents. 

"1886-87, $43^884.73; average cost, 70 cents. 

"From the statement above it can be noticed that the cost to the city 
for loaning books and furnishing stationery and drawing materials, each 
year for the past three years, averaged 97 cents per pupil. It is fair to 
presume that the plan can be continued at about this expense annually. 

"The average cost to the city for the three years preceding 1884-85 
was 33 cents per pupil, so that the financial result of the free text-book act, 
in Boston, has been to add 64 cents to the yearly cost of educating each 
pupil, and to relieve the parents of a somewhat larger expenditure than they 
would otherwise have incurred had they been obliged to purchase books 
for their children." 

The Committee on Accounts, also referring briefly to the practical 
working of the system, especially in regard to its effect upon school atten- 
dance, says: "From the report of the Committee on Supplies, recently 
issued, it appears that the working of the free text-book law is progressing 
very satisfactorily and only adds, thus far, about 64 cents to the yearly cost 
of educating each pupil. 

MARKED INCREASE IN ATTENDANCE IN HIGHER GRADES. 

"In 1884, when the law Avent into effect, we find that the number of 
pupils attending the high schools was 2,395. In 1887 the number is 
2,944 — an increase of 549, or about 23 per cent, in three years. 

"The increase in the num'ber of pupils in the three upper classes of the 
grammar schools during the past three years was about 40 per cent, greater 
than the increase in the three lower classes, althoug-h the proportion of 
pupils in the former, as-compared with the latter, is less than 60 per cent. 

"The free text-book act has undoubtedly been a large factor in filling 
up our high schools and the upper classes of the grammar schools, 
on account of the expense saved the parents by relieving them from the 
purchase of text-books, which, in these grades, requires a large sum. 

"Two of the advantages thus far developed by the use of free text- 



10 

books are, first, avoiding delay in getting the schools into working order, 
and, second, in prolonging the school life of children." Thus in the short 
space of three years the School Board of Boston, from being the chief 
opponents of free text-books in the state, were converted to its cordial sup- 
porters by their experience with its practical workings. 

(For the present opinions of the school authorities of Boston see the 
letter of Superintendent Seaver.) 

The report of the schools of Cambridge, Mass., for 1893, says: "The 
average cost per pupil, for the nine years (1884-1893), $1,219, would seem 
as low as can be expected, since additional text-books, especially in read- 
ing, are being introduced in accordance with the most progressive ideas, 
and this, of course, tends to keep up the average." 

COMPARATIVE UNIiMPORTANCE OF THE QUESTION OF 

COST. 

As it is agreed by every person who has had experience with free 
text-books that the cost to the community is considerably less than that 
of individual ownership, the author has paid much less attention to the 
question of cost per pupil than to other phases of the subject, because it 
seems to him a comparatively unimportant matter whether the cost is 64, 
75 or 90 cents per pupil, since, if the community are satisfied that free text- 
books will be greatly beneficial to the schools, they will give themselves 
little concern over a few cents per pupil, more or less. 

(c) THE HISTORY OF FREE TEXT-BOOKS. 

Philadelphia has the distinction of having been the first city to adopt 
free text-books, in 18 18, since which time it has always adhered to the plan, 
which, for 50 years past, has met with such universal approval as not to 
have been the subject of any debate or attempts at change. 

New York City very long ago followed the lead of Philadelphia, though 
no one seems able to determine just when it adopted the plan, but it was 
fifty or more years ago. 

Newark, Jersey City, Paterson and New Brunswick, N. J., adopted 
free text-books thirty or more years ago, but the precise date cannot be 
learned. Without any law specially authorizing it, Bristol, R. I., has always 
furnished free text-books, under the general provisions of the law for 
maintaining free public schools, and various cities, towns and rural districts 
in several other states have done the same, either under the same construc- 
tion of the general statute or under permissive laws specially authorizing 
the purchase of books and other supplies, where school authorities or the 
voters of the district should so decide. 

So far as the author has been -able to learn, there is no city or town 
of any considerable population in the whole country that has ever given 
free text-books a fair trial which has ever gone back to individual ownership. 

THE SCHOOL REPORT OF WESTFIBLD, MASS., FOR 1886 

gives a brief history of the law of 1884, in Massachusetts, as follows: 

''The first effort made in the Massachusetts Legislature to pass a law 
permitting school authorities to furnish free text-books was In 1868, and it 



11 

was so unpopular that not a single member of the Committee on Educa- 
tion would favor the measure. 

"The question was discussed and commented on by the newspapers, 
but no active measures were taken by the Legislature till 1873, when a per- 
missive act was passed. 

'In the discussion of the question it fell to the lot of this town to be 
represented by a man whose father, with a large family of children, found 
the last cent in demand for their support. 

*'The question of free text-books was new to the representative, but 
the arguments in favor brought vividly to mind the first day he ever at- 
tended school. 

"As soon as an opportunity offered he spoke as follows: 'I remember 
the first day I went to school. The mistress came and put her hand on my 
head and said: "You are coming to school, my little man, are you?" I 
said, yes. She said, "Where are your books?" 

" T replied that I had no books; that my father was a poor man and 
that he said all he could do was to get bread for us. 

"'The teacher turned to a boy sitting near me and said: "Perhaps 
you will allow the little boy to look over with you?" He kindly consented 
and the little learning I have I obtained from borrowed books.' The effect 
of the speech was magnetic. 

"He had risen from the class for which the free text-book is especially 
needed and fully understood its necessities." 

To the enactment of the compulsory free text-book law in Massachu- 
setts there was such a very vigorous and formidable opposition (largely 
under the lead of the Boston School Board, though there was no division 
on the lines of political parties), that the final vote in the House of Repre- 
sentatives, when the bill was passed on March 8, 1884, was 149 yeas to 51 
nays (as appears by letter of Secretary of State Wm. M. Olin, in answer to 
my letter of inquiry), yet, as we have seen, in three years the Boston School 
Board, by the practical operations of the law, were converted from its 
enemies to its supporters, and there has ceased to be any opposition to the 
law, so that no one even proposes its repeal. 

FREE TEXT-BOOKS SURE TO COME TO ALL PROGRESSIVE 

STATES. 

The author began this investigation quite strongly opposed to free 
text-books, but, with the amendment in the practical administration of the 
scheme which has always seemed to him indispensable to its completeness, 
and which ex-Secretary Dickinson predicts will be made to it in Massa- 
chusetts, viz., that the books used by each pupil should be retained by him 
when he leaves the school, he is now fully satisfied that free text-books should 
be furnished to all public schools and that every progressive state in the 
nation will soon follow the lead of all the states east of Indiana, and of 
Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, South 
Dakota, Washington, Nebraska, Colorado and Idaho with permissive or 
compulsory free text-book laws, and that all that pass permissive laws will 
speedily, like Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode 
Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Nebraska, Idaho and Pennsylvania, super- 
sede them with compulsory free text-book laws, because of the beneficial 
result of the operation of the permissive laws in the cities and towns which 
avail themselves of the permission to furnish free text-books. 



12 

COMPULSORY LAW DOES NOT FORCE PUPILS TO USE FREE 

TEXT-BOOKS. 

It should be understood that a compulsory free text-book law does not 
compel any pupil to accept free text-books, if the parent chooses to purchase 
text-books. 

The compulsion is only in requiring the school authorities of each city, 
town or other municipality to purchase books and offer the use of them 
free to all pupils. 

WEAKNESS OF TWO COMMON OBJECTIONS TO FREE TEXT- 
BOOKS. 

The objection that the ownership of text-books is necessary to culti- 
vate habits of independence and self-reliance seem.s to be especially weak, in 
view of the fact that many generations of school children in New York City, 
Philadelphia, j ersey City, Newark, New Brunswick, Paterson and other 
cities in New Jersey, Bristol, R. L, and many other places in different states 
have had free text-books, and no one has ever noticed any general lack of 
habits of independence and self-reliance in those people, either when com- 
pared with the citizens of other cities which have not had free text-books, or 
when compared with any reasonable ideal of what such habits should be in 
a good citizen. 

Equally puerile is the claim that free text-books are an opening wedge 
to state socialism, or any other form of socialism, in view of the fact that 
the cities, towns and states which have longest used free text-books, are 
generally the ones where the socialistic cult has made least prpgress. 

In the case of New York City, Philadelphia and other cities which have 
furnished free text-books from 30 to 78 years, no questions were asked 
about increase of attendance (as of course there exists no means of deter- 
mining anything on that point), but only concerning the cost of free text- 
books, and how the law is regarded where it has been so long in operation. 

As to the influence of free text-'books in increasing the attendance in 
public schools, it will be noticed that there is substantial unanimity in the 
opinion that it increases attendance chiefly in the higher grades of the 
grammar schools and the high school, and, indeed, in towns and cities 
where the compulsory attendance law is well enforced there could not well 
be any material increase in the lower grades, as the pupils of these grades 
are the ones who are reached by the compulsory attendance law, and as 
free text-books have been furnished to all indigent pupils in Massachusetts 
since 1826, and for many years in all other states which have compulsory 
attendance laws, no one, before the compulsory free text-book law was 
passed, was excused from sending his child under 14 to school on the 
ground that he could not afford to buy books; but above the compulsory 
age it is plain that many pupils were kept out of school on account of the 
cost of books. 

The considerable divergence of views on the extent to which pupils 
have been drawn into the public schools from parochial and other private 
schools by the free text-book law is easily accounted for by the difference 
(i) in communities and (2) in the excellence of such schools. 

That such schools are not seriously affected by free text-books is cer- 
tain from the long experience of New York City, Philadelphia, Newark, 



Jersey City, Paterson, New Brunswick and many other cities in which, 
despite from 30 to 78 years' experience of free text-books in all the public 
schools, parochial and other private schools flourish, as well as in cities that 
have not tried free text-books. 

THE PRESENT STATUS (OCTOBER, 1898) OF THE FREE 
TEXT-BOOK QUESTION IS— 

as to states and territories — as follows : 

Ten states, having a population of 11,969,222, have compulsory free 
text-book laws, i. e., laws compelling all local school authorities to furnish 
all text-books free (but, of course, not compelling pupils to use them if 
they prefer to buy their own), passed at dates specified. 

Maine 1889. New Hampshire ' 1889. 

Massachusetts 1884. Vermont 1894. 

Rhode Island 1893. New Jersey 1894. 

Pennsylvania 1893. Delaware 1891. 

■ Nebraska 1891. Idaho 1893. 

In all these states (except Delaware and Idaho) it was an evolution, 
i. e., the states had either had, for some years previous, a permissive free 
text-book law, i. e., a law specifically allowing local authorities to furnish 
all text-books free, or the right to furnish text-books free had been treated 
as discretionary with local school authorities, and in several of the states, 
notably Pennsylvania and New Jersey, there had been extensive adoption 
of the free text-book plan under this discretionary^ authority; in New 
Jersey "nearly all the cities, and some 400 out of 1,500 school districts in 
the state outside the cities having furnished free text-books as far back 
as 1887," and all the large cities having furnished free 'text-books for from 
25 to 40 years past. 

The following 14 states, with a population of 21,285,648, have passed, 
at the dates specified, permissive free text-book laws, viz.: 

Connecticut 1886. South Dakota 1890^ 

Ohio 1894. Colorado 1887. 

Wisconsin 1887. Iowa 1896. 

North Dakpta 1895. Kansas 1897. 

Maryland . 1888, :\Iontana 1897. 

Michigan 1889. Washington 1897. 

Minnesota 1893. New York 1894. 

In some of these states this permissive law was an outgrowth of the 
adoption of free text-books under the discretionary authority, notably in 
^Michigan. Wisconsin and Maryland. In some of these states there has 
been a very extensive adoption of free text-books, as in ^Minnesota, where 
about tw^o-thirds of the districts already have free books. 

In New York the great cities of New York, Brooklyn, Buffalo, 
Syracuse and some 25 smaller places, aggregating a population of about 
2,800,000, or nearly one-half the population of the state, have free text- 
books, and letters from the superintendents of all these places express entire 



14 

satisfaction with the system, and letters from several other cities state 
that they expect soon to adopt free books. 

In three states and the District of Columbia, with a population of 
7,127,349, there is no special statute on the free text-book question, but 
local school authorities havcvtreated it as within their discretion, as appears 
below: 

FLORIDA. MISSOURI. ILLINOIS. 

In Florida two counties, Hernando and Volusia, have adopted free 
text-books, and the county superintendent of Hernando County wTites as 
follows: ''The free book system was adopted in this county on August 3, 
1891, and has from the first given entire satisfaction to school boards, 
teachers, school patrons and the pubhc. We would not discontinue it." 

In Missouri, St. Louis is, so far, the only place which has adopted free 
text-books, and it only supplies to the four lowest grades. The upper 
grades, except indigent pupils, are required to buy books. They adopted 
this plan about five years ago. 

In Illinois, District No. 2, of our neighboring city of Evanston, fur- 
nishes free books, and F. W. Nichols, superintendent, wrote, November 
30, 1895: "We have furnished free text-books the past two years. It is 
a great success. The average cost per pupil, per year, is about 50 cents 
for books and about 60 cents for all other supplies." Other towns in 
the state which have furnished free books for many years and are entirely 
satisfied with the system are Geneva, Batavia, West Batavia and Dundee. 
I am informed that there are some other towns in the state which furnish 
free text-books, but inquiry at the office of the state superintendent at 
Springfield shows no records on the subject and I cannot locate them. 

Superintendent Powell of Washington, D. C, writes, December 12, 
1895: "We furnish text-books and all materials used by the child free to 
all grades below the high school. 

"Free text-books were put into the schools gradually, having been 
furnished in the first four grades five years, in the fifth and sixth grades 
four years, and in the seventh and eighth grades three years, including the 
current year. 

"There has been no opposition to this action on the part of Congress. 
It is very satisfactory to the people. 

"The furnishing of books and materials has very perceptibly increased 
the attendance at school. Whether such increase has been at the expense 
of private and parochial schools, I have no means of knowing. The in- 
crease has been chiefly in the upper grades." 

Ten states and territories are disgraced by making no provision for 
supplying indigent pupils with free books, viz.: West Virginia, North Caro- 
lina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, 
Texas and Oklahoma. 

SUMMARY VIEW OF THE STATUS OF LARGE CITIES ON THE 
FREE TEXT-BOOK MATTER. 

Of the 28 cities in the United States having above 100,000 population 
and aggregating a population of 9,697,960, the following 17, aggregating a 
population of 6,762,057, have furnished, since dates named, free text-books, 
and except Washington, D. C, Detroit and Denver, which do not furnish 



15 

to high school pupils, and St. Louis, which only furnishes to the four lower 
grades, they all furnish to all pupils. 

(d) New York (d) St. Louis 189a 

(d) Brooklyn 1885. (d) Baltimore 1884 

(c) Boston 1884. (c) Pittsburg 1895 

(d) Buffalo 1893. (P) Detroit 1891 

(d) Washington 1890. (p) Minneapolis 1893 

(d) Newark (d) Omaha 1876 

(d) Jersey City (p) Denver 1894 

(d) Providence 1892. (c) Allegheny 1895 

(d) Philadelphia 1818. 

Of 14 cities having between 65,000 and 100,000, with an aggregate 
population of 1,117,406, the following 9, having an aggregate popula- 
tion of 711,224, have furnished free text-books to all pupils since dates 
named: 

(d) Syracuse 1894. (p) New Haven 1890. 

(p) Toledo 1894. (c) Lowell 1884. 

(d) Paterson (p) Fall River 1873 

(p) Scranton 1889. (c) Cambridge 1884. 

(c) Worcester 1884. 

(Note. — The date of adoption in New York City cannot be deter- 
mined, but it was about 50 years ago. 

The New Jersey cities named have had free books for from 25 to 40 
years, but the precise dates they are unable to report.) 

Those marked (c) began to furnish under compulsory state laws; those 
marked (p) began to furnish under permissive state laws, and those marked 
(d) began to furnish without any special law on the question, in the exer- 
cise of a sound discretion under the general law for estabhshing and sup- 
porting free schools. 

CHIC/VGO IS THE ONLY FIRS-TCLASS CITY IN THE U. S. 
WHICH DOES NOT FURNISH FREE TEXT BOOKS. 

It will be noticed that Chicago is the only city above 300,000 popula- 
tion in the country which does not furnish free books, and of a population 
of 10,314,406 living in th^ United States, in the 42 cities of above 65,000 
people each, 7,473,277 have free text-books, and 3,341,129 (almost one-half 
of whom live in Chicago) do not have free text-books. 

Replying to the author's letters of inquiry, the superintendents of all 
these cities state that the system gives general satisfaction, and in reply to 
specific inquiry on the subject of infection all report that they have never 
known of any case of the spread of contagious diseases as the result of the 
use of free books. 

DISSATISFACTION WITH FREE TEXT BOOKS. 

The only places, as far as the author has been able to learn, that express 
any dissatisfaction with free text-books, are three little villages in Michigan, 
aggregating a population of less than 1,000, and Volusia County, Florida, 



16 

whose superintendent has neglected to reply to two letters of inquiry, so 
that all that can be said is that "it is reported" that they are dissatisfied. 
Letters dated June to September, 1898, from all the state superintendents 
of states having compulsory free text-book laws, express entire satisfaction 
therewith, and declare that there is no likelihood of the laws being repealed, 
and all superintendents of states where there are permissive free text-book 
laws under same dates state that where the system has been fairly tried in 
their respective states, whether in rural districts or cities and towns, it has 
been satisfactory. 

WHY MASS. LETTERS ARE FULLY COPIED. 

The letters from the superintendents of all cities in Massachusetts of 
above 16,000 population have been pretty fully copied, not because they 
are one whit more favorable to free text-books than the letters from 
superintendents of all the cities and towns in other states, but because all 
of these cities, having been compelled to adopt free text-books by a state 
law in 1884 (and some of them having adopted the system as early as 1873, 
under a permissive law passed in that year), they furnish the only example 
of all the cities of a state using the free text-book system long enough to 
give it a very thorough trial, and yet not so long as to make it impossible 
to compare satisfactorily its effects with those of individual ownership, in 
all the directions of 

(i) Increased attendance. 

(2) Sources of the increase. 

(3) Distribution of the increase. 

(4) Relative cost of books. 

(5) Change of pubhc opinion Avith relation to the law, and, 

(6) Effect, if any, on public health. 



COPIES OF CORRESPONDENCE HEREINBEFORE MENTIONED. 

From Hon. John W. Dickinson, State Superintendent of Massachusetts, 1876-1893. 

Newtonville, Mass., September 20th, 1894. 

My Dear Professor Marshall: — The free text-book system is working admirably 
well in Massachusetts. We think it Tias increased the attendance upon the public 
schools nearly 10 per cent. 

The increase is quite marked in our high schools, where the books and sup- 
plies constitute an important item in the bill of expenses. 

Doubtless the increase in attendance upon the public schools is due, in part, to 
additions from private schools. 

There is no visible opposition to the free text-book system in Massachusetts, 
The system has been growing in favor ever since it was established. It will never be 
repealed, but will be strengthened, b}- permitting the children to keep their books 
(those used in the last year of their school course). 

The use of the system has not only increased the school attendance, but it, has 
greatly facilitated the work of the schools, by furnishing them with abundant means 
of doing the work. 

Our schools can now be organized at once at the beginning of the term. The 
system has proved a very economical one, as the towns, acting as a unit, can supply 
theii schools with books and all other means of study at much less expense than 
by acting as individuals. The adoption of the system is increasing in all parts of 
the country. I am sincerely yours, 

(Signed) J. W. DICKINSON. 



17 

Prom F. A. Hill, Secretary of State Board of Education since 1893: 

State House, Boston, September 20th, 1894. 

My Dear Sir: — There is no opposition to our present law, so far as I know, nor 
is there any probability that it will be repealed. 

I think it has led to an absolute increase in attendance of children at school, 
particularly in schools of the higher grades. 

The high-school attendance in the city of Cambridge, for instance, has doubled 
during the past eight years, although the population of the city has increased in 
a far less ratio. I have no doubt that this is partly due to the free text-book law. 
Undoubtedly, too, the free text-book law^ leads to the withdrawal of children from 
parochial and other private schools, but to what extent I cannot say. 

We all believe in the law, although we freely adm.it the existence of minor ob- 
jections to it; as, for instance, the increased burden it throws upon the teachers, and 
the withdraw'al of text-books from the family library. 
From Superintendent Edwin P. Seaver, Boston. 

The general opinion in this state is that the system of free text-books works 
admirably. It has, in my judgment, worked an absolute increase in the attendance 
of children at school, particularly in the high schools, and in the upper grades of 
the grammar schools. It is said that many children have been drawm from parochial 
and other pri^ ate schools where free text-books are not provided, but I have no means 
of verifying this statement, and cannot tell how much w"eight to give it, although 
I have no doubt it is entitled to some weight. 

There is no opposition whatever to the free text-book law at present, nor any 
probability that it will be repealed. 

The opposition to the free text-book system wdiich was manifested at the time 
the bill was before the Legislature has since utterly disappeared. 

It promotes a smooth working of the schools, and the prompt beginning of 
lessons at the opening of the school year, to such an extent that teachers generally 
would be very sorry to return to the old system. 



From Superintendent Thomas M. Balliet, Springfield. 

1. Some of our parochial schools had to furnish free text-books in order to hold 
tlieir pupils, several j^ears after the free text-book law went into effect. From this 
I should infer that free text-books had the effect of bringing in pupils from these 
schools. 

2. The attendance in other private schools for young children has been steadily 
decreasing during the last six or seven years. There may be more than one cause 
for this, however. 

3. Whether it has absolutely increased the attendance at the public school or 
r.ot, I cannot say. I should think its tendency was to produce this effect. 

4. There is no opposition to the law, as far as I know, except on the part of a 
conservative person here and there. There is no reason to think that this law will 
■ever be repealed, judging from its present popularity. 



From Superintendent A. P. Marble, Worcester, Mass. 

The system of free text-books has worked admirably here. The only real objec- 
tion is obviated by the use of covers, renewed yearly. 

In my opinion, the absolute attendance is increased; and better still, there is 
no loss of time at the opening of school in gettng parents to buy the necessary books. 

There is no opposition to the law and it wnll never be repealed. 

I think the increased attendance is well distributed throughout all the grades. 

In my judgment free text-books — all the necessary tools — have become a nec- 
essary corollary to free schools. I w^as not an advocate of this law. nor yet an op- 
ponent when it was enacted. I was willing to see it tried; and the trial has con- 
verted me to its advocacy. The net cost paid by the public is much less than the 
cost used to be to the parents. 



From Superintendent A. K. Whtcomb, Lowell. 

The free text-book system in IMassachusetts has come to stay, beyond any ques- 
tion. Opinion, so far as I know\ is unanimous in its favor. 

It has undoubtedly increased the attendance on the public schools by withdrawing 



IS 

pupils from parochial schools — indeed, it has forced most of the latter to adopt a 
free- book system — but I do not see that it can, here, have much effect on the total 
attendance on all schools. We try to enforce a compulsory education law, so as 
to get all children of school age into school, and free text-books can do no more. 
Possibly free text-books help some who are above the compulsory age limit to attend 
longer, but I have no statistics on this point. 

The only objection ever urged is that of possible danger of communicating dis- 
ease in passing books from hand to hand. We do not know that this has ever 
occurred, but it is, of course, possible. 



From Superintendent O. B. Bruce, Lynn. 

Our experience in Lynn warrants me in saying that the free text-book law has 
been a success. 

It has increased the attendance in our schools, regardless of parochial or other 
schools. 

That increase has been more noticeable in the upper grammar grades through 
our high schools, where annual personal outlay for books would be a large sum even 
for families in moderate circumstances. 

We know of no opposition to the law, other than that of fear of contagion, which 
we overcome by transfer with each pupil at promotion of his or her books, and by 
changing the patent covers every year, and by enforced inspection of books by 
teachers each term, so as to knov/ their condition. 



From Superintendent Alvin F. Pease, Northampton. 

I think it has increased the absolute attendance, and to some extent the attend- 
ance from the parochial schools. I am unable to say how the different grades com- 
pare with each other in this respect. I am aware of almost no opposition to the law 
at present, and think there is no probability that it will be repealed. I have an 
impression that the attendance of children is increased more in higher grades than 
in lower. 



From Superintendent J. C. Edgerly, Fitchburg. 

1. The attendance has absolutely increased. 

2. Do not hear of any opposition to the law. I think no one entertains the 
idea of repeal. 

3. The increase has been in the high school and the higher grades of the gram- 
mar schools. 

From Superintendent Eben H. Davis, Chelsea. 

The system of free text-books has undoubtedly increased the attendance in all 
grades of our schools. I do not think the parochial schools have diminished in any 
way by the system; the increased attendance is absolute and sure. 

There is no opposition to the law on the part of taxpayers, and no complaint of 
any kind made. 

I think the increased attendance occasioned by the system is most marked in the 
higher grades, and especially in the high schools. The statutes require attendance 
in the lower grades. 

It is an excellent system on one condition, and that is, that the book shall fol- 
low the pupil who first receives it, through the various grades in which it is required, 
and then, when it has fulr.Ued its mission, it should be given to the pupil to take home. 



From Superintendent W. E. Hatch, New Bedford. 

1. We believe in the free text- book system. 

2. It has increased the attendance in the lower schools somewhat during the 
past year, owing to the hard times, by drawing away from parochial schools. I think 
it may influence a few each year to go to the high school who, otherwise, would not, 
but I am not one who believes that it has added much to the attendance. 

3. I hear of no opposition, and I do not think it ever will be repealed. 

4. Its great advantages are: (i). It relieves pressure upon the worthy poor. 



19 

(2). It saves time and friction in school. (3). It is by far the most economical way 
of providing books. Our cost for all books and supplies, including high school, and 
all paper, pencils, etc., was last year 75 cents a pupil for day schools, 12 cents a pupil 
for evening schools. (4). The law is just and right; everything connected with 
public schools should be free. 



From Superintendent Freeman Putney, Gloucester. 

Our system of free text- books is working well. 

I cannot say, with certainty, that it has or has not "absolutely increased the 
attendance of children at school." 

It is m}^ belief that such attendance has been increased in our high school. 
There is little or no real opposition now. 



From Superintendent E. L. Kirtland, Holyoke. 

Undoubtedly "free text-books'' have attracted many pupils from parochial schools. 

There is some objecting to the transfer of soiled books to the hands of persons 
who did not soil them, but this evil can be reduced to a small matter, by good man- 
agement. I do not think there is a probability of the repeal of the statute. 

Undoubtedly attendance has been largely increased by the free text-book law. 

As our compulsory system, forces all persons into school until the age of four- 
teen years is attained, the free text-book law induces many older persons to take 
the higher courses who would not be able or feel able to do so. I think the enact- 
ment is worthy of retention for this reason alone. 



From Superintendent C. A. Daniels, Maiden. 

The increase is larger in the upper grades of the grammar schools and the high 
school than in the primary schools. The increase has not come so much from 
parochial and other private schools as from families in which the parents cannot 
afil'ord to purchase text-books. 

There is no opposition to the law, and no probability that it will be repealed. 



From Superintendent B, B. Russell, Brockton. 

I do not think that the free text-book law has done much to increase the attend- 
ance, although it may have done something in that direction at the high school, for 
we have a law compelling attendance up to fourteen years of age. I do not think 
it has Ef-iected the attendance at the parochial school: if so, it must be in very slight 
degree. There is no opposition to it, whatever, that I know of. 

To my mind, the great advantage is in the saving of time by every pupil being 
supplied at the beginning of the term. Everybody seems satisfied with the law. 



From Superintendent Julia M. Dewey, North Adams. 

I think it increases the attendance by withdrawing from the parochial schools. 
I do not know of any opposition — that is, any active opposition, to the law. 

I think the increase is felt more in the grades where several text-books are used. 
I should oppose free text-books on hygienic grounds. If the better classes were 
obliged to buy books, and the poorer were given books (for their own), I think there 
would be less sickness among pupils. I think many are coming to believe this. 



From Superintendent J. E. Burke, Lawrence: 

First — The system of free text-books is working all right. 

Second — I do not think it draws pupils from parochial and private schools, as, 
on inquiry, I find that they furnish all those who desire it with free text-books in 
the parochial school here. 

Third — As to opposition to the law: I have never heard of any. 

Fourth — I think it has increased the attendance in the high and higher grades 
of the grammar schools, where the cost of books is high; in the lower grades I do 
not think it has affected the attendance. 



20 

From Superintendent Henry Wliittimore, Waltham: 

pirst — I think it has not absolutely increased the attendance of children at school. 
Under the law of Massachusetts, in force previous to the enactment of the free text- 
book law, school authorities had the power to supply indigent children with what 
books they needed. With us, this was done, and no questions asked. The children 
received the benefit of the law without too close questioning. 

Wherever parochial schools have been established in this state, the children have 
attended them without any reference whatever to the question of free text-books. 
From a close observation over such a school in this city, I think it does not make 
the slightest difTerence in the attendance upon that school. 

Children who have withdrawn from the local parochial school have done so, as 
far as my observation extends, entirel}^ independent of the question of the expense 
of attending the parochial school. 

As far as I am able to determine, there is no objection to the law, or any prob- 
ability that it will be repealed. 



From Superintendent W. C. Bates, Fall River: 

I have, myself, observed the workings of this system in several towns and in the 
cities of Lawrence and Fall River, and, in my opinion, it has worked well. 

I am of the opinion that it has increased the attendance at the public schools, 
especially in the higher grades. 

I think that many pupils who might go to other schools are drawn into the 
public schools because they are free. 

I think there is no considerable opposition to the law, and that there is no 
probability that it will be repealed. 

I think it is wrong, however, to send children out of our schools without their 
school books. They ought to have their books, for reference, all through their lives. 

While I have no figures at hand on which to base my opinion, I feel sure that 
there has been an absolute increase in attendance, and that pupils tend to remain 
longer in the higher grades. 



From Superintendent F. Cogswell, Cambridge: 

It is working well. 

It has increased the attendance at school. 
. There is no opposition to it. 

The increased attendance is greater in the high schools. 
From Superintendent H. W'. Lull, Quincy: 

We have no parochial school. I have no data to consult, but I think that the 
attendance has been increased in the higher grades, where text-books were a great 
burden. 

There is no probability or possibility of a repeal of the law. 

Whenever a ''scare" comes (diphtheria, scarlet fever, etc.) then there is, for a 
time, opposition. 

The increase of attendance is in the high school and high grammar. 

A very important gain is in the greater variety of text-books — particularly read- 
ing matter. Exchange from school to school was impossible the old way. 



From Secretary A. B. .Brown, Salem Board of Education: 

The system is w'orking well. 

Yes; in the high school there is an absolute increase of attendance. 

There is no considerable opposition, nor is there any probability that it will be 
repealed. 

The increase of attendance is in the higher grades. 
From Superintendent G. A. South worth, Somerville: 

The "free text-book system is working well. It has absolutely increased the 
attendance of children at school. 

There is no opposition, nor probability that the law wall be repealed. 

The increase of attendance is greater in the higher grades, using more books. 



21 

From Secretary of Massachusetts State Board of Health, January 30Lh, 1895: 

In reply to yours of January 24, inquiring as to the possibihty of communicating 
contagious diseases by means of free text-books in the pubHc schools, I would re- 
spectfully state that we have no information whatever, which would settle the question. 

There are so many other conditions and circumstances which surround the school 
life of chldren and which affect the prevalence of contagious diseases among them, 
that the effect of free circulation of text-books is entirely outweighed by such con- 
ditions, 

I send you a copy of a law which was enacted in 1884. which, in my opinion, would 
be likely to have a much greater influence upon the prevalence of the infectious dis- 
eases of children. I also send a pamphlet, containing, on page xxxiii, some 
statistics on the same subject for twenty years, which show that these diseases do 
not appear to have had a very marked diminution, but have increased and decreased 
irregularly, except t^^phoid fever and consumption, which have both diminished. 

The law of 1884, which Secretary Abbott mentions, is similar to that in other 
states, forbidding attendance at public schools from households where there are cases 
of contagious diseases. 



From Thiladelphia Board of Health, September 4th, 1895: 

The rule of the Board of Health with regard to school books which have been 
used by children suffering from contagious diseases is to burn the same, presuming 
that there is a possibility of communication of disease by such media. We find it 
a very difficult thing to disinfect books, without seriously damaging them. 

We have not made any investigations to prove the liability of the spread of 
contagious disease by school books, but feel satisfied that there is a strong proba- 
bility of such an occurrence if books that are in common use are suffered to become 
infected. 



From the New York City Health Department no reply has been received, except 

a copy of Scientific Bulletin No. 3, containing a paper, entitled "Some Investigations 
as to the Possible Agency of Writing Utensils in the Spread of Diphtheria in the 
Public Schools," which seems to show that as long as children will moisten pencils 
in their months, there is considerable danger that if diphtheria appears it may be 
spread if a pencil which has been so moistened by a child who has virulent diph- 
theria is used by another child within, say 24 hours, and concludes as follows: "One 
of the possible sources, therefore, of contagion from diphtheria will be removed 
when each child is required to take charge of his ovvn writing utensils." 



22 



FREE TEXT-BOOK COMMITTEE 

OF THE 

ILLINOIS STATE TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION 

Office, J537-9, 79 Dearborn Street, 
CHICAGO. 



OFFICERS. 

JOSEPH W. ERRANT, Chaikman 
WILLIAM I. MARSHALL, Secbetary 



MEMBERS BY SENATORIAL 
DISTRICTS. 

1. O. T. BRIGHT, CHICAGO 

2. .JOHN T. RAY, CHICAGO 

3. CHAS. I. PARKER, SO. CHICAGO 

4. HOMER BEVANS, CHICAGO 
O. E. .J. .JAMES, CHICAGO 

6. A. F. NIGHTINGALE, CmCAGO 

7. S. R. WINCHELL, EVANSTON 

8. W. E. WIRE, HEBRON 

9. W. E. WATT, CHICAGO 

10. r R. WALKER, ROCKFORI) 

11. A. G. LANE, CHICAGO 

12. R. W. BURTON, FREEPORT 

13. HENRY C. COX, CHICAGO 

14. J. M. FROST, HINSDAL:E 

15. W.I. MARSHALL, CHICAGO 

16. F. N. TRACY, KANKAKEE 

17. ERNEST E. COLE 

18. E. O. GARDNER, PAXTON 

19. G. A. OSINGA, CHICAGO 

20. M. M. MALLORY, LACON 

21. RICHARD WATERMAN, .JR., CHICAGO 

22. IRA 31. ONG, BLOOMINGTON 

23. CHAS. E. BOYNTON, CHICAGO 

24. J. L. ROBERTSON, PEORIA 

25. W. H. NEVENS,.JOLIET 

26. BURTON E. NELSON, LEWISTOWN 

27. U. .J. HOFFMAN, OTTAWA 

28. R. B. ANDERSON, BUSHNELL 

29. CHAS. W. GROVES, DIXON 

30. .T. W. HAYES, URBANA 

31. G. B. HARRINGTON, PRINCETON 

32. C. O. DU BOIS, MASON CITY 

33. W. .J. COX, MOLINE 

:}4. .1. W. HENINGER, .JACKSONVILLE 

35. M. ANDREWS, GALESBURG 

36. H. T. WHITE, ROODHOUSE 



MEMBERS BY SENATORIAL DISTRICTS. -CONTINUED 



37. 

.'38. 
39. 
40. 
41. 
42. 
43. 
44. 
45. 
46. 
47. 
48. 
49. 
50. 



A. A. SEEHORN, QUINCY 

WM. E. ROBINSON, GREENVILLE 

ANDREW M. BROOKS, SPRINGFIELD 

.J. L. WHISNAND, CHARLESTON 

E. A. GASTMAN, DECATUR 

T. B. GREENLAW, FLORA 

C. V. MCREYNOLDS, EFFINGHAM 

M. T. VAN CLEVE, SHAWNEETOWN 

.J AS. I. WAGNER, SUMNER 

OSCAR O. STITCH, MT. VERNON 

.J. PIKE, .JERSEYVILLE 

J. M. NICKELS, SPARTA 

CHAS. HERTEL, BELLEVILLE 

T. C. CLENDENIN, CAIRO 

O. .J. RUDE, GOLCONDA 

STANDING COMMITTEES. 
PUBLICATION. 

O. T. BRIGHT, CHAIRMAN 
C. E. BOYNTON .1. PIKE 



PRESS. 

WM. E. WATT. CHAIRMAN 



W. I. MARSHALL 
.1. M. NICKELS 



J. L. ROBERTSON 
RICH. WATERMAN, .JR. 



LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 

JOHN T. RAY, Chairman 



HOMER BEVANS 
E. A. GASTMAN 



A. SEEHORN 
C. CLENDENIN 



FARMERS' ORGANIZATIONS AND 
STATE GRANGES. 

A. M. BROOKS, CHAIRMAN 
P. R, WALKER R. W. BURTON 

.T. W. HAYS J. W. HENINGER 

AUDITING. 
CHAS. I. PARKER, CHAIRMAN 
A. G. LANE W. H. NEVENS 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



021 302 807 8 



r 



Ppl 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



021 302 807 8 





61 






\ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



021 302 807 8 



HoUinger Corp. 
pH 8.5 



